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Back to School Email Campaigns – Your Ace to Fuel Sales this Season

Fall is fast approaching and students, parents and teachers across the country are all pepped up for the back to school season. It’s time for one of the highest grossing retail holidays for businesses. According to the survey results of Deloitte, the average national spend for Back to School in the US in 2017 was $501 and hence it is considered to be the second biggest shopping season after the Holiday season.

The survey also shows that 60% of shoppers who start to shop before August are expected to spend 16% more than those who wait. Although it feels like summer has just begun, it is time for marketers to gear up or at least begin planning for the back to school market. Which means, marketers planning to run back to school email marketing campaigns need to start now!

If you have no clue what strategies to use to garner the most attention of your target audience, here are some inspirations with tips and best practices that might help you create winning back to school campaigns.

Brand: Nike

Subject Line: Best First Day Ever

This email from Nike is targeted at school children, college goers and parents. With a striking hero image, headline and a bold CTA, the email is a head turner. The discount and Offer code is mentioned in the end, to entice the users to buy.

Quick Tip: Keep your target audience in mind while creating emails. It can be either school children, college goers, parents or teachers. Create relevant customer personas and segment your email list appropriately. Make sure your emails speak directly to the key decision makers.

Brand: Geox

Subject Line: Back to School? Choose the Geox school shoes for a stylish new scholastic year!

Here’s an attractive back to school email from Geox. This email has been created by keeping the target audience in mind, which is majorly children. The brand has used an animated GIF, illustrations and peppy colors to showcase its products, which works in improving engagement.

Quick Tip: Make your emails attractive and lively with the help of bright colors, animation, and interactive email elements. Design by keeping the target audience in mind and send emails that would garner their attention and keep them engaged in your brand’s products and services.

Brand: Brit + Co

Subject Line: Go Back to School in Style

This email from Brit + Co features the creative classes that the brand offers. The highlights of this email are the distinct images and prominent CTAs in bright colored backgrounds, with captivating typography.

Quick Tip: Use cool imagery, eye-pleasing colors, and creative typography to make your emails visually appealing and attractive. Add a tint of humor and jazz to attract and engage millennials and the young audience.

Brand: Debenhams

Subject Line: Your back to school checklist ✔

Debenhams the online fashion retailer features a checklist for back to school shopping using a GIF animation. The email shows the range of products with individual CTAs that STAND OUT for each category. The subject line is self-explanatory and entices the users to open the email.

Quick Tip: Showcase as many products as possible in your emails. Give the subscribers a hassle-free shopping experience by showcasing all major products and services right in the email with their respective CTAs.

Brand: Pottery Barn Kids

Pottery Barn Kids offers great discounts for their range of products in their back to school sale. The discount Offer is mentioned in the subject line as well as at the top of the email to garner users’ attention and persuade them to shop. The offer code and discounts are highlighted throughout the email with supporting imagery.

Quick Tip: Offer discounts to your subscribers as a motivation for them to get back to reading emails after summer. Giving incentives and promo codes will give you the competitive edge and encourage more users to buy from you , and thereby improve sales.

Brand: Dresslily

Subject Line: Back to School? End Soon.

This email from Dresslily features a running clock to evoke urgency. The term “End Soon” in the subject line and the due date of the Offer in the copy also puts pressure on the subscriber to quickly make the purchase. The discount and CTA are mentioned right at the top of the email and are dominant in the email copy. The brand also promotes its Anniversary sale with a different Offer and due date.

Quick Tip: Evoke urgency by mentioning the validity of your special offer or setting countdown timers in your email. This can be done by either depicting it in the body copy in the form of text or images or writing it in the email subject line. Creating urgency will improve click rates and conversion.

Brand: Peek

Subject Line: Get Prepped! Our Back to School Sale Starts Now!

This email from Peek is probably their first for back to school email campaign. It’s a simple email with illustrations and images to support the school theme. Free shipping is mentioned at the start, followed by categories of products on the sale. The offer and the offer end date is highlighted to capture the subscribers’ attention.

Quick Tip: Plan early. With 60% of shoppers starting their back to school shopping before August, you need to make sure your emails reach your potential customers at the right time.

There is a lot of potential in this special season to make the subscribers aware of your brand, engage them with your email campaigns and improve sales and revenue. If you are not leveraging this special season yet, you are losing potential revenue.

Kevin is the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks, one of the fastest growing email design and coding companies. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and breathes ‘email marketing’. He is a brand magician who loves to engage, share insights with fellow marketers, and enjoys sharing his thoughts on the latest email marketing best practices at EmailMonks Blog.